Susan Lister passed away in hospital Thursday, August 29. Susan taught Spanish in Cupertino, California and was the co-author of Medical Spanish, now in its 4th edition. She has participated in the building of this website since its inception (see What Kids Say in School for example) and, before that, yourDictionary.com when that was my website and I was Dr. Language. She also sent me many, many Good Word suggestions over the years.

It diminishes us all by more than one when someone like Susan Lister leaves us. Good language is the musical glue that binds us to real communication and better understanding. I send red cedar and sweet sage wishes to facilitate her passage.

Susan Lister was a word lover, a book lover, a music lover, a dance lover. She loved history, particularly word history, and the history of computers. She loved great conversations, great food, and travel. She spoke English and Spanish perfectly, she also knew some French, some Latin, and even a few words of Japanese. She had the gift of gab, and the gift of languages. She had a terrific sense of humor, and always liked a good joke or a good story.

She made some excellent contributions to several of Dr. Beard's websites over the years, as well as a number of other sites. (She also bought, and loved, most of Dr. Beard's excellent books.) I do know that Dr. Beard's emails, books, and websites gave her significant pleasure. She was a great friend (to me and to many others), a great teacher to a number of medical professionals, and a great partner, to her current partner Robert. Her late husband had been a US Marine, and a real estate broker.

One of her favourite things was going to Clint Eastwood's restaurant, in Carmel. (He sold it a while back.) But he ate with her and Robert several times, and even bought supper a couple of times! She was a person who lived life to the fullest. She was very generous in helping others, too. She had "e-friends" around the world. Farewell, good friend! She will be sorely missed by all of us.